View previous topic | View next topic |
Author |
Message |
thecactus
Joined: 07 Mar 2011 Posts: 3196 Location: Northern Ireland
|
Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2011 1:33 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I meant - IF EVERYTHING YOU SAID WAS THE TRUTH - I BELIEVE THE ACTIVITY IS PARANORMAL
Quote: |
If I posted (under a different name) saying that I was being haunted by Michael Jackson would you believe ME just because I said so Cactus?.
|
No. It was the activity she described - how, when, where and what, and even why - it seemed to sound credible.
But I was really only talking to her - I dont know if shes telling the truth or not, neither do you - but IF every word she wrote WAS the truth - I think there is paranormal activity |
|
... |
|
Back to top |
D B Sweeney
Joined: 27 Aug 2010 Posts: 2842 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
|
Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2011 2:53 pm Post subject: |
|
|
but IF every word she wrote WAS the truth
With respect to you Cactus - we don't know nor can we ever know because this is a forum and we don't know anything about the people who post. We don't know if they're lying, have mental issues, are mistaken, deluded or just plain wrong.
What we can do (and what I do) is ask questions and try to get some evidence over and above personal opinion and second hand accounts.
DB |
|
... |
|
Back to top |
thecactus
Joined: 07 Mar 2011 Posts: 3196 Location: Northern Ireland
|
Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2011 3:47 pm Post subject: |
|
|
so when someone who
Quote: | don't know if they're lying, have mental issues, are mistaken, deluded or just plain wrong.
|
writes a thread about a personal experience you
Quote: |
ask questions and try to get some evidence over and above personal opinion and second hand accounts.
|
from that person who you
Quote: |
don't know if they're lying, have mental issues, are mistaken, deluded or just plain wrong.
|
|
|
... |
|
Back to top |
D B Sweeney
Joined: 27 Aug 2010 Posts: 2842 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
|
Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 12:26 am Post subject: |
|
|
over and above personal opinion and second hand accounts.
'Over and above personal opinion' means we try to get independent verification from several other sources in an attempt to establish if the claim is fact or fantasy.
'Second hand accounts' are exactly that ie 'Fred down the Pub knows a man who is being haunted by a ghost Clown'.
Is that any clearer for you Cactus?
DB |
|
... |
|
Back to top |
thecactus
Joined: 07 Mar 2011 Posts: 3196 Location: Northern Ireland
|
Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 1:32 am Post subject: |
|
|
again, you cant rule out all second hand accounts, a % may be exaggerated or adding to an already fabricated story, but sometimes people just pass on exactly more or less what was told to them, which could have been real
there have been second hand witnesses who have come forward about roswell - the person who passed on the info, usually on their deathbed was sworn to secrecy
i already know youre going to say someone on their deathbed isnt reliable anyway |
|
... |
|
Back to top |
D B Sweeney
Joined: 27 Aug 2010 Posts: 2842 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
|
Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 1:52 am Post subject: |
|
|
thecactus wrote: | again, you cant rule out all second hand accounts, a % may be exaggerated or adding to an already fabricated story, but sometimes people just pass on exactly more or less what was told to them, which could have been real
there have been second hand witnesses who have come forward about roswell - the person who passed on the info, usually on their deathbed was sworn to secrecy
i already know youre going to say someone on their deathbed isnt reliable anyway |
Without any way of verifying the authenticity of a ghost/ufo encounter the story could well be genuine (but at heart still a cognitive misperception) or it could be a total fabrication - either way it's getting passed on and the more people it passes around the more errors are going to creep into it in the telling and re-telling. As these experiences are passed around they, by human nature, are inevitably subject to various cognitive biases.
The links below may help.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_bias
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credulity
DB |
|
... |
|
Back to top |
thecactus
Joined: 07 Mar 2011 Posts: 3196 Location: Northern Ireland
|
Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 2:16 am Post subject: |
|
|
Ive never said 'witness testimony is proof' especially not 2nd or 3rd hand
although I believe you can weigh it with the witnesses credibility, motivations and intelligence
eg - john smith says he say a ghost - i say thats good and forget about it
winston churchill or President Theodore Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover and Harry Truman, say they saw lincolns ghost - people listen |
|
... |
|
Back to top |
D B Sweeney
Joined: 27 Aug 2010 Posts: 2842 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
|
Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 3:26 am Post subject: |
|
|
Prime Ministers and Presidents are subject to hokey beliefs and errors of perception just as much as anyone else.
Ronald Reagan never made a major decision without first consulting his Astrologer.
DB |
|
... |
|
Back to top |
thecactus
Joined: 07 Mar 2011 Posts: 3196 Location: Northern Ireland
|
Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 3:32 am Post subject: |
|
|
so quantity of witnesses mean nothing to you
quality of witnesses mean nothing to you
they just all have strange beliefs, bad memories and bad eyesight |
|
... |
|
Back to top |
D B Sweeney
Joined: 27 Aug 2010 Posts: 2842 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
|
Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 3:40 am Post subject: |
|
|
thecactus wrote: | so quantity of witnesses mean nothing to you
quality of witnesses mean nothing to you
they just all have strange beliefs, bad memories and bad eyesight |
A 'quality' witness is better than a blind man. You have to look at other factors besides the 'quality' of the witness. Lot's of people have 'seen' the Loch Ness Monster - some of them that I'd say were 'quality' witnesses but did they see a real monster as popularised by the media?.
When it comes to UFO/alien sightings we have to rely on the evidence that we have - not speculation.
DB |
|
... |
|
Back to top |
thecactus
Joined: 07 Mar 2011 Posts: 3196 Location: Northern Ireland
|
Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 3:44 am Post subject: |
|
|
the loch ness monster could be real but its not something that would interest me as much,as ghosts - life after death, ufos - other intelligent life in the universe/multiverse |
|
... |
|
Back to top |
D B Sweeney
Joined: 27 Aug 2010 Posts: 2842 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
|
Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 4:00 am Post subject: |
|
|
The loch ness monster is real, just as ghosts and aliens are real. I don't doubt that people are genuinely seeing what they're reporting, however what I do doubt is their accuracy given the vast amount we know about human perception, the brain, the senses and cognitive psychology.
DB |
|
... |
|
Back to top |
|